


Running with a Torch

by The_Lady_Crane



Category: Fire Emblem: Soen no Kiseki/Akatsuki no Megami | Fire Emblem Path of Radiance/Radiant Dawn
Genre: Drabble, Emotional, I had to vent the feels, Ike and Soren love each other so much and it's so hard to capture how deeply they do, Introspection, M/M, No Plot/Plotless, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-06
Updated: 2020-07-06
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:28:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25111636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Lady_Crane/pseuds/The_Lady_Crane
Summary: How can Ike put into words how much he loves Soren? How can he summarize their relationship with a label? For a man as ineloquent as himself, it’s impossible.---A very short, emotional introspective drabble.
Relationships: Ike/Senerio | Soren
Comments: 7
Kudos: 41





	Running with a Torch

**Author's Note:**

> My mediocre writing skills can't do this couple justice. T_T I feel like their connection is so deep that it's difficult to capture in a story. Oftentimes I resort to portraying them as I would any other couple, but I've been constantly working to truly understand how very extraordinary they are.

“So, are you two married?”

The question isn’t unexpected. Whenever Ike and Soren stop long enough in one place, it’s bound to come up – what are they to each other? Most people assume that they’re spouses right off the bat. It seems to fit. They’re always beside each other, always working together as a team. They’re intimate with each other in ways that they’ve never been intimate with anyone else. They share everything. They trust each other unconditionally.

But somehow, words like “married” and “lovers” don’t seem to capture the depth of their feelings, of their commitment to each other.

Theirs is a relationship that began fatefully and grew over time. From the moment Ike had rescued Soren from imminent starvation, they had become linked to each other. Even if Ike forgot, Soren never did; he carried their torch alone, keeping it lit through years of doubt and uncertainty. When they met again, and Ike didn’t reach out to take it, Soren had kept it burning, staying by Ike’s side, content just to be allowed to be near the boy who had given him hope.

Gradually, that torch’s warmth had touched Ike. Though he didn’t remember lighting it, he began to tend that flame, too. He began to protect it, because it was important to Soren. Because Soren was important to him.

When the flames flickered, Ike reached out to fan them. When Soren began to doubt, when he learned of his Branded heritage, Ike took the torch in hand and helped Soren to keep it burning. And by the end of the Mad King’s war, Soren was no longer carrying it alone.

In truth, Ike had always known that Soren was precious to him somehow. Without knowing why, exactly, he cherished his tactician. When the dangers of battle threatened to overwhelm him, Ike had sent him away, refusing to allow Soren to fall if he could help it. And Soren had stayed with him all the way to the end and beyond. He had marched through Hell and back, had proven his devotion to be far more than shallow admiration. And when Ike remembered their first meeting, when the final piece of the puzzle clicked into place, it was like seeing Soren again for the first time. The torch flared and burned brighter than ever, and Ike firmly took hold of it, to carry it alongside Soren for the rest of their lives.

How can he put into words how much he loves Soren? How can he summarize their relationship with a label? For a man as ineloquent as himself, it’s impossible.

The question comes again and again, in every town they find. “So, are you two married?”

“Yeah,” he says with a slight nod. “You could say that.”


End file.
